Voice over internet protocol diagnostics

Abstract

Embodiments disclose a method that may be used for diagnosing, for example, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions. The method may include establishing a first streaming session between a first telephone and a server using session control messages and establishing a second streaming session between the first telephone and a second telephone using session control messages. The method may further include transmitting or receiving data packets using the second streaming session, wherein the data packets carry voice or video data between the first and second telephones. The method may further include echoing the session control messages used to establish the second streaming session or the data packets carrying the voice or video data to the server using the first streaming session.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method comprising:
 establishing a first streaming session between a first telephone and a network device by transmitting and receiving first session control messages,
 wherein the first streaming session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, and 
 wherein the first endpoint of the first streaming session is the first telephone and the second endpoint of the first streaming session is the network device; 
 
 establishing a second streaming session, different than the first streaming session, between the first telephone and a second telephone by transmitting and receiving second session control messages,
 wherein the second streaming session does not pass through the network device, 
 wherein the second telephone is not the network device, 
 wherein a portion of the first streaming session and a portion of the second streaming session occur simultaneously, 
 wherein the second streaming session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, and 
 wherein the first endpoint of the second streaming session is the first telephone and the second endpoint of the second streaming session is the second telephone; 
 
 transmitting or receiving data packets using the second streaming session, wherein the data packets carry voice or video data between the first and second telephones; and 
 transmitting the second session control messages, used to establish the second streaming session, to the network device using the first streaming session. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further including:
 transmitting the data packets carrying the voice or video data to the network device using the first streaming session, wherein transmitting includes sending one of the transmitted or received data packets carrying the voice or video data as a payload of one or more packets in the first streaming session. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further including:
 indicating, in the one or more packets in the first streaming session, a time that the one received data packet carrying the voice or video data was received over the second streaming session. 
 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the session control messages used to establish the second streaming session include session initiation protocol (SIP) messages and wherein the first streaming session includes a real-time protocol (RTP) session. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the session control messages used to establish the first streaming session between the first telephone and the network device do not form part of the first streaming session and do not form part of the second streaming session. 
     
     
       6. A network device comprising:
 a transceiver to receive and send first session control messages to establish a first streaming session between the network device and a diagnostic device, and to receive and send second session control messages to establish a second streaming session, different than the first streaming session, between the network device and another network device,
 wherein the second streaming session does not pass through the diagnostic device, a portion of the first streaming session and a portion of the second streaming session occur simultaneously, the other network device is not the diagnostic device, the first streaming session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, the first endpoint of the first streaming session is the network device and the second endpoint of the first streaming session is the diagnostic device, the second streaming session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, and the first endpoint of the second streaming session is the network device and the second endpoint of the second streaming session is the other network device; 
 
 wherein the transceiver is configured to
 send first data packets representing multimedia to the other network device using the second streaming session, 
 receive second data packets representing multimedia from the other network device using the second streaming session, and 
 send the received second data packets representing multimedia, send the first data packets representing multimedia, or send the second session control messages, used to establish the second streaming session, to the diagnostic device using the first streaming session,
 wherein the transceiver is configured to send the first data packets representing multimedia, received using the second streaming session, as payloads of packets in the first streaming session with indications of when one or more of the data packets representing multimedia were received by the network device, and 
 wherein the transceiver is configured to send the second data packets representing multimedia, received using the second streaming session, as payloads of packets in the first streaming session with indications of when one or more of the data packets representing multimedia were received by the network device. 
 
 
 
     
     
       7. The networking device of  claim 6 , wherein the transceiver is configured to send only a portion of one of the data packets representing multimedia as a payload of one of the packets in the first streaming session. 
     
     
       8. The networking device of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 a processor to perform diagnostic measurements of the second streaming session, 
 wherein the transceiver is configured to send the diagnostic measurements to the diagnostic device in the first streaming session. 
 
     
     
       9. The networking device of  claim 8 , wherein the diagnostic measurements include measurements of jitter, latency, reorder, packet loss, or audio volume. 
     
     
       10. The networking device of  claim 6 , wherein the session control messages include session initiation protocol (SIP) messages and wherein the first streaming session includes a real-time protocol (RTP) session. 
     
     
       11. A computer-readable medium including instructions to be executed by a processor, the instructions including one or more instructions to:
 set up a first streaming session between a first telephone and a network device by transmitting and receiving first session control messages; 
 set up a second streaming session, different from the first streaming session, between the first telephone and a second telephone using by transmitting and receiving second session control messages,
 wherein the second streaming session does not pass through the networking device, the first streaming session occurs simultaneously with a portion of the second streaming session, the second telephone is not the networking device, the first streaming session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, the first endpoint of the first streaming session is the first telephone and the second endpoint of the first streaming session is the network device the second streaming session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, and the first endpoint of the second streaming session is the first telephone and the second endpoint of the second streaming session is the second telephone; 
 
 send or receive data packets using the second streaming session, wherein the data packets carry voice or video data between the first and second telephones; and 
 transmit the second session control messages, used to establish the second streaming session, to the network device using the first streaming session. 
 
     
     
       12. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further including:
 one or more instructions to transmit the data packets carrying the voice or video data to the network device using the first streaming session; and 
 one or more instructions to send one of the sent or received data packets representing voice or video as a payload of one or more packets in the first streaming session. 
 
     
     
       13. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further including:
 one or more instructions to send one of the received data packets representing voice or video as a payload of one or more packets in the first streaming session with an indication of a time that the one of the data packets representing voice of video was received over the second streaming session. 
 
     
     
       14. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , wherein the session control messages include session initiation protocol (SIP) messages and wherein the first streaming session includes a real-time protocol (RTP) session. 
     
     
       15. The computer-readable medium of  claim 11 ,
 wherein the session control messages used to establish the first streaming session between the first telephone and the network device do not form part of the first streaming session and do not form part of the second streaming session, and 
 wherein the session control messages used to establish the second streaming session between the first telephone and the second telephone do not form part of the second streaming session and do not form part of the first streaming session. 
 
     
     
       16. A system comprising:
 a first network device including a transceiver to receive and send session control messages to establish a real-time call session between the network device and a second network device; and 
 a third network device including a transceiver to receive and send session control messages to establish a diagnostic session, different than the real-time call session, between the third network device and the first network device, 
 wherein the real-time call session does not pass through the third network device, a portion of the real-time call session and a portion of the diagnostic session occur simultaneously, and the first, second, and third network devices are all different devices, 
 wherein the transceiver of the first network device is configured to
 send data packets representing first multimedia to the second network device using the real-time call session, 
 receive data packets representing second multimedia from the second network device using the real-time call session, 
 send one or more of the session control messages to establish the real-time call session to the third network device using the diagnostic session; and 
 send, to the third network device, one or more of the data packets representing the second multimedia as payloads of packets in the diagnostic session. 
 
 
     
     
       17. The system of  claim 16 , wherein the transceiver of the first network device is configured to send, to the third network device, indications of when the one or more of the data packets representing the second multimedia was received in the first network device. 
     
     
       18. The system of  claim 17 , wherein the transceiver of the first network device is configured to send only a portion of the one of the data packets representing the second multimedia as a payload in the diagnostic session. 
     
     
       19. The system of  claim 17 , wherein the session control messages include session initiation protocol (SIP) messages and wherein the diagnostic session includes a real-time protocol (RTP) session. 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 16 ,
 wherein the real-time call session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, and the first endpoint of the real-time call session is the first network device and the second endpoint of the first streaming session is the second network device, and 
 wherein the diagnostic session has a first endpoint and a second endpoint, and the first endpoint of the diagnostic session is the first network device and the second endpoint of the diagnostic session is the third network device. 
 
     
     
       21. A network device comprising:
 a transceiver to receive and send session control messages to establish a first streaming session between the network device and a diagnostic device, and to receive and send session control messages to establish a second streaming session, different than the first streaming session, between the network device and another network device, wherein the second streaming session does not pass through the diagnostic device and the other network device is not the diagnostic device; 
 wherein the transceiver is configured to
 send data packets representing multimedia to the other network device using the second streaming session, 
 receive data packets representing multimedia from the other network device using the second streaming session, and 
 send the sent or received data packets representing multimedia or the session control messages used to establish the second streaming session to the diagnostic device using the first streaming session, wherein the transceiver is configured to send the data packets representing multimedia as payloads of packets in the first streaming session with indications of when one or more of the data packets representing multimedia were received by the network device, and wherein the transceiver is configured to send only a portion of one of the data packets representing multimedia as a payload of one of the packets in the first streaming session. 
 
 
     
     
       22. The networking device of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 a processor to perform diagnostic measurements of the second streaming session, 
 wherein the transceiver is configured to send the diagnostic measurements to the diagnostic device in the first streaming session. 
 
     
     
       23. The networking device of  claim 22 , wherein the diagnostic measurements include measurements of jitter, latency, reorder, packet loss, or audio volume. 
     
     
       24. The networking device of  claim 21 , wherein the session control messages include session initiation protocol (SIP) messages and wherein the first streaming session includes a real-time protocol (RTP) session. 
     
     
       25. The networking device of  claim 24 , wherein a portion of the first streaming session and a portion of the second streaming session occur simultaneously.